Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Episode 1: Mumbai – Istanbul - Rome

I am sitting at the Mumbai International airport, immigration checks all done. And I am super excited as one can be. It is my first solo trip to Europe. It was my dream and today I am on the way to achieving it. Still got an hour and half to leave this country, so till then bear with me.

Well the evening started with a relaxed goodbye-have-a-blast-dinner at Six Degrees. For those of you who don’t know where that is, it’s at the Leela’s in Mumbai. Freaking expensive (thank God I dint have to pay for it :P), but I so enjoyed this time spent together, considering I would be away for the next 35 days without anybody stalking me :).

We then met up with the Don, and together these boys dropped me to the airport, not before we had a quick spin and grabbed some more food to eat at a Dabba. Then these boys gave me a scare of my life, saying that they forgot my bag at the hotel! Shit! They were kidding. Not funny!!!

Made our way to the airport again, got lost and found tan. So it was the goodbyes then. :( I do not like goodbyes and with my family not there to bade my bye on this super exciting journey I am about to embark on, these boys are all that I got. And, am extremely thankful for the same. Will miss u, stalker…

From here on it’s the usual shit the make you go through. And there are damn huge mosquitoes in the airport! And they are biting my brown skin.

Ok cool its time for my flight, Turkish Airlines here I come. Bye bye Mumbai!I have no memories of my journey across the skies. I was out as cockroach, or so my buddies would say.

Istanbul Airport, Turkey, 11.15 am Turkish Time, 10 /5/2008

(Applause)

Tanaya sets afoot on foreign soil for the first time & … she felt cold! For all of you wondering who is Tanaya aka Tan, well she is my colleague at work and a good friend and a person who had the misfortune to be my travelling partner.

I for a matter of fact, couldn’t care less. I wanted to spot the Turkish GP circuit. My head is hurting as hell. I am super hungry, and other than freshening up, other than sleeping, all I wanna do is eat.

And amazingly I am homesick! We are trapped for the next 6 hours at Istanbul International Airport.

So with nothing better to do, we eat. I just spent some 12-11E on food!!! Everything is expensive and its not even day 1. But I am lovin’ it! And here are some lines I came up with while drowning down my lunch.

So many facesSo many different nationalities Yet we come together in one placeEverybody has a place to goEverybody has to destination they must reachAnd then there’s meWho wants to seeDavid, the Monalisa & the Sistine Chapel as far as my eyes will allow me to see

The next few hours were spent in a blur, sitting opposite the duty-free shop and watching everyone go bye.Ta-ta Istanbul it’s time for my connecting flight to Rome :)

Rome, Italy, 9.15 pm Italy time, 10 /5/2008

We finally made our way. After getting lost a million times! From Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport to Roma Termini, surprisingly we made our way unscratched. Finding our hotel was a task but we did it. Got help from a hot Italian guy and life was beautiful :)

Later in the evening once I freshened up and all, tan & I sat in a bar. Not a bar bar per se just a hangout joint. Anyway since we were lost finding our hotel, I got to see Rome and the living quarters side of it.